A/N: Thanks for the reviews. I've started school again now that spring break has ended. Ugh…not fun.

Disclaimer: I don't own RK.

Beaches of Kyoto
KiahWMConnie
Chapter one: It Can't be True

"Whew," Kaoru exhaled as she set down the tofu bucket. Poor Kenshin had a cold that day and Kaoru had to get the tofu, "I guess with Kenshin being around so long, it's been a long time since I've gotten the tofu myself. It's a bit heavier than it used to be."

Kaoru had set down the bucket on the road to rest for a minute. She had a sudden thought.

'I'm near that beautiful lake I love so much! I should drop by there to rest for a minute. The guys won't be expecting me back for a while.'

Satisfied with her decision, Kaoru went near the edge of the lake and calmly sat down. She loved to look at the lake, for it was so beautiful. She looked around the lake, and then she saw something move in the distance. It was over in the trees around where the path was.

'Someone must be around there.'

She almost turned her head away, but there was something familiar about it, a him as she now realized. Even from about 100 yards away she could tell something about him; the way he walked and looked from a distance. She picked up the tofu and began to walk in the direction of the man.

She decided to keep hidden, for it may have been just a suspicion. She stayed behind a large tree so she could watch him go by without being seen.

He began to come closer, seemingly oblivious to the pair of azure eyes watching him intently. He was about 100 yards away' it slowly turned into 75, then about 50. Something hit Kaoru in her mind.

Her eyes went wide as she gasped.

"A-a-Aoshi?" she barely whispered.

She turned her back to the road. She clutched her chest with her free hand; her heart was racing. Aoshi? No, it couldn't be. He was dead!

Kaoru suddenly ran; she knew another way home.

'There's no way it could be Aoshi! He died back in Kyoto! How could he be alive?'

Kaoru was frantic and scared. Was it a ghost? Was it just her imagination or was it just someone who looked like him? No, it was him alright. As much as she didn't want to believe it, she just knew it was him.

She tossed and turned in her bed. Thoughts and questions filled her mind. When she got home, Yahiko and Sano seemed concerned about her; Kenshin was already in bed because of his sickness.She just replied with thestandard 'I'm fine.'

As sheliedawake, she asked herself, "What's going on here?"

A/N: I did not plan on this chapter being so short. Sorry it's kind of a cliff hanger. Like I said before, school's started again.

darkangelofice: A/U means alternate universe

Again, sorry it's so short. Please review!